Medicinal Mushrooms
Mushrooms have been used for medicinal purposes for centuries in many cultures. Several members of the Basidiomycete mushroom class, such as for e.g. members of the Agaricus mushroom family have been used for medicinal and health-related purposes.
A number of researchers have suggested anticancer, antitumour or antimutagenic properties of e.g. Agaricus mushrooms (Kimura, Y: In Vivo 2005, Vol 19, Iss 1, p 37-60; Kim et al., Food Science and Biotechnology 2004, vol 13, Iss 6, p 852; Kim et al., Food Science and Biotechnology 2004, vol 13, Iss 3, p 347-352; Guterrez et al., Texicology in Vitro 2004, Vol 18, Iss 3, p 301-309; Ribeiro et al., Mutation Research Reviews in Mutation Research 2003, Vol 54, Iss 2-3, p 195.201; Pinheiro et al., Food and Chemical Toxicology 2003, Vol. 41, Iss 11, p 1543-1550; (Inhibiting tumour growth) Lee et al., Experimental Animals 2003, Vol. 52, p 371-375; Luiz et al., Mutation research-Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis 2003, Vol. 528, Iss 1-2, p 75-79; Bellini et al., Texicology in Vitro 2003, Vol 17, Iss 4, p 465-469; Ashida et al., Food Factors in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention 2003, Vol. 851, p 235-248; (antigenotoxic effect) de Oliveira et al., Food and Chemical Toxicology 2002, Vol. 40, Iss 12, p 1775-1780; Kuo et al., Journal of Laboratory and clinical medicine 2002, Vol. 140, Iss 3, p 176-187; Oshiman et al., Planta Medica 2002, Vol. 68, Iss 7, p 610-614; Meloni et al., Mutation Research—Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis 2001, Vol. 496, Iss 1-2, p 5-13; Osaki et al., Yakugaku Zasshi—Journal of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan 1994, Vol. 114, Iss 5, p 342-350; Itoh et al., Japanese Journal of Pharmacology 1994, Vol. 66, Iss 2, p 265-271.; Ito et al., Anticancer Research 1997, Vol. 17, Iss 1A, p 277-284; Fujimiya et al., Cancer Immunology Immunotherapy 1998, Vol. 46, Iss 3, p 147-159; Fujimiya et al., Journal of the Japanese Society for Food Science and Technology—Nippon Shokuhin Kagaku Kogaku Kaishi 1998., Vol 45, Iss 4, p 246-252; Ebina et al., Biotherapy 1998, Vol. 11, Iss 4, p 259-265; Fujimiya et al., Anticancer Research 1999, Vol. 19, Iss 1A, p 113-118; Mizuno et al., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology International 1999, Vol. 47, Iss 4, p 707-717; Takaku et al., Journal of Nutrition 2001, Vol. 131, Iss 5, p 1409-1413; Ohno et al., Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin 2001, Vol. 24, Iss 7, p 820-828; Delmanto et al., Mutation Research—Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis 2001, Vol. 496, Iss 1-2, p 15-21).
There is however a surprising paucity of epidemiologic and experimental studies that address the biologic activities of mushrooms after oral administration to animals or humans (Borchers et al., “Mushrooms, Tumors and Immunity: an update”, Experimental Biology and Medicine 229:393-406).